Dominion Post : MI6 spy did it himself, Scotland Yard says

MI6 spy did it himself, Scotland Yard says

also: The City Weekly

December 27, 2012

British police say a MI6 agent found dead locked inside a sports bag probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services.

Cryptology expert Gareth Williams, 31, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the MI6 overseas spy agency when his remains were found in August 2010 inside the bag in a bathtub at his London apartment.

A British coroner ruled in May that another person was likely to have been involved in Williams' death, adding that she could not rule out the involvement of the spy agency.

But a Scotland Yard review of the case sparked by that ruling has concluded that he probably died alone, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The murder squad has spent seven months re-interviewing Williams' colleagues from MI6 and has taken DNA samples.

"They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out," a source close to the inquiry said.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox said it was unlikely that the death would ever be "satisfactorily explained," but she said the spy was likely killed either by suffocation or poisoning in a "criminally meditated act."

She said he could not have climbed into the bag and locked it himself. Two different specialists attempted to recreate the feat without success.

Williams was discovered in the foetal position inside the bag with two keys to the bag's padlock underneath his buttocks.

SECRET LIFE?

Williams, described as an introverted math genius, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ.

But he was attached to the MI6 foreign spy agency when his remains were found, just a few days after returning from a trip to the United States.

Forensic experts found some £20,000 (NZ$39,965) worth of luxury women's clothing, shoes and wigs in his apartment.

Police also discovered that he had visited bondage and sadomasochism websites, including some related to claustrophilia - a desire for confinement in enclosed spaces.

William's landlord testified during the coroner's hearing that she once found him handcuffed to his bed. She said he had appeared embarrassed after asking for help.

When the case emerged, some had speculated that he could have been the target of Russian criminal gangs or an al Qaeda extremist.

Other media reports had said there had been a break-in at the property where he lived - a building sometimes used by MI6 to house its agents.

MI6 waited a week to investigate why Williams hadn't shown up for work - a delay that made it difficult for Williams' family to identify his badly decomposed body.

During the coroner's hearing, MI6 accepted that Williams disliked the agency's boozy culture of post-work drinking and tedious bureaucracy, and had requested to return to his job at GCHQ.

One MI6 officer claimed that Williams hadn't been reported as missing because colleagues assumed he was preparing for his return to the southern England headquarters of the eavesdropping service.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Mirror : 'Body in the bag' spy death: The six key questions that must be answered at the inquest

'Body in the bag' spy death: The six key questions that must be answered at the inquest

Tom Pettifor | April 23, 2012

The inquest into MI6 spy Gareth Williams's mysterious death began today. Here are six questions that remain unanswered

Was there someone else in the flat with Gareth Williams when he died?

Police say it would have been impossible to get into the locked bag alone.

Mr Williams’s body had no signs of defence injuries from a struggle.

The flat was double locked and there was no forensic evidence of a third party.

Why did it take so long to raise the alarm?

Mr Williams was last seen on August 15, 2010, and police believe he died in the early hours of the following day.

But he was not reported missing by anyone until his sister rang police seven days later.

Were the dark arts of the spooks involved?

His family suspect members of an intelligence service were involved in what they see as a possible murder and cover-up.

Was Mr Williams being followed?

A friend is said to have told police he had told her he feared he was under surveillance.

But he did not reveal by whom.

Was Mr Williams’s work behind his death?

He had just returned from holiday in the United States but neither MI6 nor GCHQ have wanted to make public what the codebreaker was involved in at the time of his death.

Did a sex game go wrong?

There was no trace of alcohol or recreational drugs in his body.

But if he was interested in auto-eroticism why was it not picked up when he was vetted?

33 KDAF : Coroner Mystified by Death of Spy Found Naked in Bag

Coroner Mystified by Death of Spy Found Naked in Bag

CNN | May 2, 2012

London -- It is unlikely that the death of a British spy found at his home in 2010 -- his naked body padlocked inside a large red carrying bag stowed in the bathtub -- will ever be satisfactorily explained, coroner Fiona Wilcox said Wednesday.

Gareth Williams, an MI6 agent known for his mathematical genius and codebreaking talent, was found dead in August 2010.

Following an official investigation by the coroner's office, the "most fundamental questions as to how Gareth died remain unanswered," Wilcox said, adding that there was "endless speculation but little real evidence."

There was a key to the bag in which he was found inside it with him, and there were others in his apartment, Wilcox said.

There was no sign of a break-in or robbery in his neat, tidy apartment, she said Wednesday. She described his body as "peaceful" and said there was no indication of a struggle.

British media have reported that Williams' Internet history showed an interest in sex games and bondage. But DNA traces suggest other people may have been in his apartment.

The coroner's inquest into his death heard that Williams was not reported missing for more than a week, despite the sensitive nature of his work, meaning many vital clues were lost to decomposition.

UK media have reported about the 31-year-old's apparent interest in bondage and claustrophilia, a fetish for enclosure in very confined spaces.

Reports about the "body-in-a-bag spy" describe how two experts spent days trying to figure out whether Williams, who was athletic and of medium height, could have contorted himself in such as way as to lock himself into the North Face holdall bag, with a key to the padlock inside.

Video provided to the court shows one of them, Peter Faulding, folding himself laboriously into an identical bag, measuring just 32 inches by 19 inches (81 by 48 centimeters), placed in a bathtub.

Faulding, who specializes in rescuing people from confined spaces, told the inquest that he had tried to lock himself into the bag 300 times without success, according to the Press Association news agency. A second expert witness, also of a size and build similar to Williams, tried 100 times to re-enact the feat without succeeding.

But neither ruled out definitively the possibility that Williams could have somehow done it alone. A small trace of someone else's DNA was found on the bag, helping spawn all kinds of theories -- that he was perhaps drugged by a foreign spy who then locked him in the bag, or was the victim of a kinky sexual liaison gone wrong.

The detail that the closets in Williams' central London flat contained thousands of dollars' worth of designer women's clothing and shoes, some of which had been worn, as well as women's wigs and cosmetics, added fuel to the fire of speculation.

Another revelation came from a former landlord and landlady, who told how they had once found Williams tied by his wrists to the headboard of his bed, after he shouted for help.

Williams said he had wanted to see if he could get free, landlady Jennifer Elliot told the court, but she and her husband "thought it was more likely to be sexual than escapology," according to the Press Association.

Williams was recruited into the intelligence services straight from university, working with Government Communications Headquarters before MI6. The nature of his work and questions around why his spy agency bosses took so long to raise an alert about his absence have added to the intrigue surrounding his death.

In a courtroom scene reminiscent of a spy thriller, his boss testified from behind a screen and was identified only as SIS F -- the Secret Intelligence Service being the official name for MI6.

She apologized to Williams' family for the service's failure to act sooner, but said his lifestyle choices were not a concern for the agency, suggesting it has moved on from the rigid mores of past decades, when closet homosexuality or illicit affairs opened up possibilities for blackmail.

"There is no set template for what their lifestyle should be," SIS F said of today's intelligence agents, according to the Press Association. "Individuals have lifestyle and sexual choices and sexual preferences which are perfectly legitimate."

She acknowledged that Williams had made a number of unauthorized computer searches at work but played down the significance of this fact, the agency said.

Williams was finally reported missing by a co-worker on August 23, more than a week after the normally punctilious employee had last shown up at work.

A transcript of the call to police said that Williams was last spoken to on Friday, August 13, and that calls to his home number and cell phone had gone unanswered. His sister had also been unable to reach him.

The caller mentioned that Williams had "recently been pulled off of a job" and said it was unclear if he might have "taken this badly."

The family's lawyer accused MI6 of showing "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety" before he was found dead at his government-provided home, the Press Association reported.

Concerns over national security have been a factor in the 20-month delay in holding Williams' inquest, and an agency more used to working in the shadows has had an uncomfortably bright light shone into its practices.

As well as adding to his family's distress, the initial delay in reporting Williams' death means forensic specialists simply cannot answer many of the most pressing questions.

Testing did not give conclusive results because the body had decomposed significantly after nine days in the summer heat of his top-floor apartment, toxicology reports posted online say.

Traces of alcohol and a chemical matching the party drug GHB were found, but both can occur naturally as part of the decomposition process, one document says. Williams was teetotal, so "even a small amount of alcohol could affect cognitive capacity," it notes.

A series of photographs provided by the Metropolitan Police show the tidy, impersonal interior of the spy's Pimlico home and the small, white-tiled bathroom where his body was found.

A bicycle parked in the hallway is a clue to Williams' more regular passion, cycling. A glimpse through the bedroom door shows a bed half-made, clothes lying on it. But little else can be gleaned from the images.

Media reports have homed in on expert testimony that despite Williams' solitary lifestyle, tiny traces of DNA from "at least two" other people were found in his apartment.

But who those visitors were and whether they hold the clue to the riddle of the agent's mysterious death are yet more questions that remain unanswered.

Williams' family, with whom he was close, denies that he was gay or had a secret, unorthodox sex life.

They believe someone else was there either when Williams died or afterward, their lawyer, Anthony O'Toole, told a hearing held before the inquest began, and they suspect some degree of expert cover-up was involved.

"The impression of the family is that the unknown third party was a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services -- or evidence has been removed post-mortem by experts in the dark arts," O'Toole said, according to the Press Association.

Express : BODY-IN-BAG SPY MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED SAYS EXPERT

BODY-IN-BAG SPY MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED SAYS EXPERT

Gareth Williams may have been poisoned or drugged before being left in a sports holdall

By Cyril Dixon | April 27, 2012

MI6 officer Gareth Williams may have been poisoned or drugged before being left in a sports holdall placed in his bath, an inquest heard yesterday.

The revelation came as a secret service chief told how “profoundly sorry” spy bosses were for taking a week to realise he was missing.

Mr Williams’ superiors did nothing to trace the code-breaker for seven days after he failed to attend a meeting at MI6 headquarters.

Denise Stanworth, a toxicology expert, told the inquest that the delay meant blood and urine tests on his body were not conclusive.

She said although there was no sign of “old-fashioned” poisons, they could not be ruled out.

Although there were traces of the party drug GHB and alcohol in his blood, both were probably produced naturally after death.

“If someone had taken GHB close to the time of death you would expect the urine level to be much higher. I can’t completely rule out ingestion of GHB but it would seem unlikely.

“In my opinion it’s far more likely to be post-mortem production.”

When asked how reliable tests could be, Ms Stanworth added: “In terms of many of the drugs, reliable, but in terms of the more volatile substances, not that reliable.”

Ms Stanworth, who reviewed the toxicology, said it was “highly unlikely that he was administered with an old-fashioned poison but they cannot rule out volatile agents”. She said it was impossible to say if there were traces of the legal high poppers.

But she agreed with Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox that if he had taken them, it “could have caused loss of consciousness or death”.

Yesterday’s apology to Mr Williams’ grieving family, including his mother Ellen Williams and sister Ceri Subbe, was delivered by a Secret Intelligence Service officer identified only as “SIS F”.

Speaking from behind a 10ft screen to protect her identity, she said: “We are profoundly sorry about what happened.

It shouldn’t have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth’s body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that.

“I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation.”

Family members rushed out of court in tears as the apology came, and the inquest had to be adjourned while they were comforted. Anthony O’Toole, the family’s lawyer, accused MI6 of showing “total disregard for Gareth’s whereabouts and safety” after he went missing in August 2010.

Mr Williams, 31, failed to turn up on August 16 for the meeting, and his naked body was found rotting in the bag at his flat in Pimlico, central London, on August 23. He was curled up in the foetal position, and the red North Face holdall had been padlocked from the outside.

The hearing continues.

Guardian : MI6 offers 'profound apology' for delay in reporting Gareth Williams missing

MI6 offers 'profound apology' for delay in reporting Gareth Williams missing

Inquest told delay had 'horrendous' consequences for police investigation into MI6 officer's death

Caroline Davies | April 26, 2012

The Secret Intelligence Service has offered a "profound apology" over delays in reporting MI6 officer Gareth Williams missing, as his inquest heard decomposition meant tests could not establish whether certain drugs or poisons were in his system.

Relatives of the 31-year-old, found dead in a padlocked bag in his flat, broke down as their lawyer said the delay had had "horrendous" consequences for the police investigation leaving it "in essence, almost defeated".

His mother, Ellen, was led sobbing from the court as the inquest heard her son's MI6 line manager, who failed to report him missing from work for seven days, had not faced disciplinary action.

Westminster coroner's court heard decomposition meant any possible presence of a number of substances and anaesthetic agents – such as amyl and alkyl nitrates (or poppers), chloroform, helium, and others which "could have caused poisoning and death" – would not have been detected in the body when the postmortem examination was conducted.

Williams's top-floor flat in Pimlico was extremely hot when his body was finally found on 23 August 2010, seven days after failing to turn up for work. Toxicology tests were conducted two days later.

They revealed alcohol and traces of the "date-rape" drug GHB in his blood and urine, but a panel of experts said both, which occur naturally, were "more likely to be down to decomposition". Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said that although ingestion could not be completely ruled out, it was "more likely to be due to postmortem production" .

She thought it unlikely poisons had been administered, because of the lack of side effects such as vomit, but told the hearing it could not be ruled out.

The expert panel, which examined the test results, said it could not be established "whether Gareth was alive or dead when he entered the bag".

An SIS internal review had found no link between his death and the intelligence work Williams carried out for MI6 or for GCHQ, from where he was on secondment.

Speaking from behind a screen, a senior MI6 officer known only as F, denied "dark arts" were behind his death, but did concede "theoretically" that a "malign or hostile party" could have put pressure on him.

She apologised to his family as their lawyer, Anthony O'Toole, accused SIS of showing "a total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety".

"We are profoundly sorry about what happened. It shouldn't have happened. We recognise that the delay has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with Gareth's death."

"I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation," she said.

She was asked if aspects of Williams's private life – the inquest has heard of his £20,000 collection of women's clothes, and that he accessed websites about claustrophilia, bondage and sadomasochism – might have "rendered him unsuitable for SIS work".

She replied it was "a sensitive area" of questioning as it related to vetting issues, but in general lifestyle and sexual preferences would not in themselves have posed a problem.

Williams, whose job was "developing practical applications for emerging technologies" was described as a "fully deployable highly talented officer", said F.

There was no reason to think foreign intelligence services or security organisation represented a threat to him. His security assessment was that he was "low risk", said F. His work had never taken him to Russia or Afghanistan, contrary to media speculation, the inquest heard. He had been on operational deployment only in the UK.

Contrary to media reports, the flat he was living in was "not an SIS safe house", said F, who understood it had been rented through his employers at GCHQ.

SIS did not carry out an independent internal investigation into his death. But 12 months later, they conducted a "comprehensive internal review".

"It confirmed we had no evidence of any specific threat to Gareth arising out of his work for SIS," said F. It concluded there was no reason to think his death was in any way connected with his job.

His role was to "think up and design technology" to support other operators. "He had a highly skilled, very able technical brain," said F.

"Everyone in SIS found him a very pleasant individual, a good colleague, respected for his talents. An intensely private individual," said F. She added Williams did not socialise with colleagues out of work. "He liked to keep his work life very separate from the rest of his life."

The hearing continues.

UKPA : Spy poisoning 'cannot be ruled out'

Spy poisoning 'cannot be ruled out'

April 26, 2012

Scientists cannot rule out that spy Gareth Williams was poisoned before being dumped in a bag because it took MI6 a week to realise he was missing, an inquest has heard.

Traces of a drug matching the party drug GHB appeared in his bloodstream - but forensic expert Denise Stanworth said it "probably" appeared naturally after he died. She added that "we cannot rule out volatile agents" as she was asked how reliable toxicology can be nine days after death.

Ms Stanworth also said it was impossible to say if there was any sign of the legal high poppers, acknowledging that the drug "could have caused loss of consciousness or death".

MI6 had earlier apologised for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance, conceding the error may have hampered police inquiries.

Relatives walked out on the inquest in tears as a senior spy said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" for delays in noticing he was missing.

The family's lawyer accused MI6 of showing "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety" before he was found dead in his London home on August 23, 2010.

Mr Williams, who was largely teetotal, had 78mg per 100ml of alcohol in his blood when toxicology tests were carried out on his decomposed body.

Ms Stanworth said the traces of GHB was "likely to be post-mortem production". When asked how reliable tests could be, she added: "In terms of many of the drugs, reliable, but in terms of the more volatile substances, not that reliable."

MI6 earlier denied "dark arts" were behind his death, despite saying a malign or hostile party could have "theoretically put some pressure on to Gareth".

The inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court was adjourned until Friday.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Daily Mail : Party drug popular in clubbing and gay scene found in body of death riddle spy, inquest told

Party drug popular in clubbing and gay scene found in body of death riddle spy, inquest told

* Gareth Williams had traces of alcohol and date rape drug GHB in his body
* But levels likely to have been created naturally after death, says toxicologist
* Court earlier told how illicit searches on MI6 files left him open to blackmail
* But senior manager says no evidence he was targeted by foreign powers
* She apologies for 'communication breakdown' which meant 31-year-old was not reported missing for a week
* Codebreaker's family walk out of hearing in tears as spy chief gives evidence
* Bosses 'didn't call police for four hours' after officially deeming him missing
* May have been in fragile state of mind as 'he had just been taken off a job'

By Chris Greenwood | April 26, 2012

An illegal party drug was found in tests on body-in-the-bag spy Gareth Williams, an inquest heard yesterday.

Scientists said their investigation revealed a small trace of GHB, a dangerous sedative popular in the clubbing and gay scene.

They also refused to rule out poisoning because Mr Williams’s body was so decomposed that a host of potential killing agents including cyanide, insulin and chloroform would have been undetectable.

The spy’s family fear the failure of MI6 bosses to raise the alarm for seven days after he went missing deprived police of opportunities to solve the riddle of his death in August 2010.

His body quickly began to decay after being padlocked inside a sports holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat in central London.

His curled-up, naked body was found uninjured and he did not try to escape.

The fourth day of the inquest into his death also heard the high-flying code-breaker’s eccentric private life was no barrier to his secret work.

A senior MI6 officer suggested his superiors knew about his collection of women’s designer clothing, love of transvestite comedy and visits to bondage websites.

Speaking from behind a screen, a top official, known only as SIS F, said Mr Williams was known for his ‘world class’ work at GCHQ, the Government listening post.

The family’s lawyer Anthony O’Toole asked SIS F whether ‘revelations about Gareth’s private life might have rendered him unsuitable’ for MI6.

She replied: ‘There is no set template for what their lifestyle should be.

'Individuals have lifestyle and sexual choices and preferences which are perfectly legitimate.’

The inquest heard Mr Williams made a ‘small number’ of illicit searches on the MI6 database that could have left him vulnerable to blackmail by foreign agents.

But colleagues said there was no evidence he was targeted by a foreign power.

His family fear the ‘dark arts’ of the secret services may have been involved in his death or in a cover-up.

The MI6 officer apologised for the failure to act when punctual and reliable Mr Williams did not show for work.

Family members stormed out of the hearing sobbing after Mr O’Toole accused the secret service of ‘total disregard’ for his safety.

Denise Stanworth, a forensic scientist, said samples from Mr Williams’s body had been subjected to almost every test imaginable for evidence of suspicious substances and none was found.

Speaking about the party drug, she said she could not completely rule out that the spy had taken GHB but in her opinion it was unlikely.

She said it was far more likely to have been produced naturally following death.

The inquest continues.

BBC : MI6 spy death inquest: 'No drugs or poison found' in body

MI6 spy death inquest: 'No drugs or poison found' in body

April 26, 2012

MI6 officer Gareth Williams was probably not drugged, drunk or poisoned when he died, a toxicologist has told the inquest into his death.

But Denise Stanworth said she could not rule this out because of the time which had elapsed between his death and the post-mortem examination.

Mr Williams' body was found locked in a holdall at his London flat on 23 August 2010 - a week after his death.

His boss at GCHQ in Cheltenham earlier hailed him as "something of a prodigy".

Giving evidence, forensic scientist Ms Stanworth said some anaesthetics, solvents and the substance amyl nitrate may not have been detectable, because his body was left for so long.

It took a week for MI6 to investigate Mr Williams' disappearance, meaning the post-mortem exam was carried out nine days after he died.

A small amount of alcohol, and traces of the sedative GHB were found, but both were likely to have been produced by his body as it decomposed after death.

An extensive search for "old-fashioned poison" came back negative, although Ms Stanworth said volatile agents could not be ruled out.

For understandable reasons spies do not like to come out from the shadows.

But over the past two days a procession of intelligence officers have had to account for their actions in public, albeit behind screens.

On Thursday, a senior official at MI6 acknowledged the one-week delay in finding Gareth Williams' body caused more grief for the family, and had an impact on the police investigation.

The body was too badly decomposed to provide forensic clues.

A GCHQ official has said action should have been taken on the first day of absence in line with policy.

It still is not clear why the policy was not followed.

It appears too that Gareth Williams' line manager at MI6 has not been disciplined for this.

Mr Williams' former boss at government listening agency GCHQ earlier described him as a "world-class" intelligence officer.

Stephen Gale said Mr Williams had joined GCHQ aged 21 with a first class degree in mathematics and PhD in computer sciences. "It was quite remarkable that he had achieved those levels of qualifications at such a young age," he said.

The agency paid for him to gain further qualifications in advanced mathematics at Cambridge University.

Mr Gale said: "Colleagues recall a young man who was very close to his father - he spoke about their climbing trips together.

"They remember him as a keen cyclist. One colleague said it was like a red bullet flying around the place."

Mr Williams was on a three-year secondment with MI6 in London but wanted to return to his role at GCHQ.

Profoundly sorry

On Thursday morning, an MI6 officer denied the secret service was involved in a cover-up over the codebreaker's death.

The officer - Witness F - gave evidence anonymously from behind a screen.

She apologised to Mr Williams' family on behalf of MI6, saying they were "profoundly sorry" for the delay in reporting the spy missing.

Witness F admitted that HR policy was not followed and that it "clearly took too long" to notice the codebreaker's absence from work.

She blamed Mr Williams' line manager - Witness G - for a "breakdown in communication", but said he should not face disciplinary action.

Mr Williams' relatives walked out of the inquest in tears during Witness F's evidence, and their lawyer Anthony O'Toole said the agency had shown a "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety".

Mr O'Toole blamed the delay for preventing the family from saying goodbye to Mr Williams while his body was in an "acceptable form", and for making it more or less impossible for detectives to establish how he died.

Bondage websites

During her evidence, Witness F denied that officers from the secret service entered Mr Williams' flat, before or after the discovery of his body.

She said that MI6 had not tampered with any electronic evidence on Mr Williams' computer, and denied the secret service had leaked information to the media that the codebreaker visited bondage and sadomasochistic websites.

Mr O'Toole asked Witness F whether speculation about Mr Williams' private life might have made him unsuitable for intelligence agency work.

She indicated his sexual preferences would not, in themselves, pose a problem: "There's no set template as to what [an employee's] lifestyle should be. Individuals have lifestyles and sexual choices which are perfectly legitimate.

"Our concern in the vetting process is to identify whether anything in the individual's background, lifestyle, creates a risk for him."

An internal secret intelligence services' review in 2011 found no link between the codebreaker's death and his work.

Telegraph : Gareth Williams timeline: how the mystery of the 'spy in the bag' unfolded

Gareth Williams timeline: how the mystery of the 'spy in the bag' unfolded

How the Daily Telegraph covered the mysterious case of Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker found dead in a sports bag.

By Daily Telegraph reporters | April 25, 2012

[see original for links]

25 August 2010: A GCHQ worker in his 30s is found dead in a large sports bag in his bath. He was on secondment to MI6, police believe. His mobile telephone and sim cards had been carefully laid out on a table. He had been there sometime and his body had decomposed.

26 August 2010: The dead man is named as Gareth Williams. Police believe he may have been killed by a "jealous lover" but they do not rule out the possibility his death was linked to his intelligence work. There were no signs of forced entry and a post mortem is inconclusive. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is given updates on the probe as part of scheduled intelligence briefings. His parents, Ellen and Ian, return from holiday to identify their son.

27 August 2010: Friends say Williams was "one of life's innocents" who could have fallen in with "unsafe" company as details emerge about his brilliant mathematical abilities. Geraint Williams, a maths teachers at Bodedern Secondary School, said the "exceptional" pupil had "the best brain I have ever seen". Friends disclosed that Mr Williams travelled to the United States at least three times a year for up to a month at a time, throughout his time working for GCHQ. It is believed he was working with the National Security Agency, the national listening station near Baltimore, as well as possibly the CIA and FBI in Washington. He was working for MI6 at the time of his death. Philip Johnston profiles GCHQ, the British evesdropping agency.

28 August 2010 Williams' family attacks "completely false" smears about his private life. It is reoported that the spy was gay or even a transvestite, and that bondage equipment had been found in his flat.

29 August 2010 Williams was recruited by GCHQ scouts while studying at Cambridge University, it emerges. He worked at the Super Computer Centre, developing techniques to speed up data encryption, before taking postings at RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire and the US NSA's Fort Meade base. He was due to start work at GCHQ's Cyber Security Operations Centre after his posting at MI6 came to an end.

30 August 2010 Murder detectives tell the Daily Telegraph Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his code-breaking work. They say Williams returned from a foreign trip on August 11 and was last seen alive on August 15 - eight days before his body was discovered. Sources close to the inquiry said they are looking at the possibility that his body was manhandled into the bag in order to remove it from the premises. A pathologist remains unsure how Williams died. His family pay tribute to a "generous, loving, son, brother and friend".

2 September 2010 A coroner reveals Mr Williams was padlocked into the sportsbag when he was found dead.

6 September 2010 Police suspect Mr Williams was poisoned - and launch a hunt for a Mediterranean-looking couple who visited the Pimlico safehouse before he died. CCTV footage shows the spy shopping in the West End wearing a red t-shirt and beige trousers.

12 September 2010 Mr Williams was working on systems to defend the banks of the City of London from foreign attack at the time of his death, the Sunday Telegraph learns. One theory being examined is that Mr Williams may have had an approach from a rival agency, and either rebuffed it without informing his superiors or initially agreed to cooperate then got cold feet. If such an approach had been exposed there would have been severe political and diplomatic repercussions, making it expedient for Mr Williams to be killed.

20 September 2010 Police now believe Mr Williams' death was linked to an unusual sex game. Officers have ruled out almost every other possibility. They have come to the view that Gareth Williams probably died after climbing into the bag which was then locked by another person. Detectives believe he was probably indulging in a sadomasochistic game in which he got a thrill from being helpless. It is likely that once locked and left in the bag, he died from a combination of causes including suffocation and dehydration, which sources said can be hard to identify in a post-mortem inquiry.

24 September 2010 Mr Williams is buried at Holyhead, Anglesey. Sir John Sawers, the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, tells mourners: "Gareth was a hugely talented person and very modest as well. He did really valuable work with us in the cause of national security." Other MI6 and GCHQ staff enter the church through a back door to protect their identities.

29 October 2010 Tests on Mr Williams' body found no trace of drugs, alcohol or poison - reinforcing the sex game theory.

22 December The keys to the padlock were found inside Mr Williams' North Face holdall, under his naked body, it emerges.

23 December 2010 Mr Williams had visited bondage websites, gay bars and drag clubs in the weeks before his death, police reveal. He also maintained a £15,000 collection of women's clothes by designers including Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin. They were in sizes that would have fitted the 5ft 8ins spy. Unknown to his family and colleagues, Mr Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design at the Central St Martin's College of Art and Design in London during evenings and weekends, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

27 December 2010 Mr Williams had intended to give the clothes away as gifts, Sian Lloyd-Jones, a childhood friend says. "I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn't believe," she said. She reveals Mr Williams was training to take on a new identity and had a second passport.

16 December 2010 The inquest into Mr Williams death is adjourned again to allow more tests. Dr Paul Knapman says the case has made little progress, the 'Mediterrean' couple have not been traced and a break-through looks unlikely.

31 March 2012 An interim hearing before a full inquest takes place. A lawyer representing Mr Williams' family says he could have been killed by someone who specialised in the "dark arts of the secret services". The MI6 worker had recently qualified for "operational deployment". Finger prints and DNA evidence was wiped from the scene of the crime in a cover-up, the family believe. It emerges that DNA found on Mr Williams' hand, which officers believed could lead them to his killer, belonged to one of the police forensics worker. The code for the sample had been incorrectly logged by LGC, the forensics company.

3 April 2012 Scotland Yard apologises for "administrative errors'' during its probe. The force said it was responsible for giving a coroner three names for the same witness. Elizabeth Guthrie is expected to be questioned about her contact with Mr Williams in the months before his death. The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, told a pre–inquest review last week that ''there has been some confusion'' over her identity.

21 April 2012 Ahead of the inquest, Mr Williams' family says their emotions remain "very raw". His aunt, Judith Thomas, says: "We could fill newspapers with words to describe Gareth. You couldn't find enough paper in this world to say how we feel about him."

22 April 2012 Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, met Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, hours after Gareth Williams' body was discovered. MI6 feared detectives would extend their probe into sensitive areas, including the nature of Mr Williams' work.

23 April 2012 The inquest continues. Mr Williams' sister, Ceri Subbe, tells Dr Fiona Wilcox that her brother did not enjoy the "flash car competition and post-war drinking culture" of MI6, and had applied to return to Cheltenham but MI6 were slow in approving his request.

24 April 2012 Fragments of another person's DNA were discovered on the outside of the bag in which Gareth Williams was found, the inquest heard. The traces were discovered on the toggle attached to the zip and the padlock used to lock the bag, it was revealed. Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who led the police investigation into Mr Williams’ death, told the inquest: “My thought or opinion since I went into the scene is that a third party had been involved in the death or in putting the bag in the bath.”

The inquest also heard that MI6 held an internal investigation into Mr Williams' death. Andrew O’Connor, the lawyer for the Secret Intelligence Service, told coroner Fiona Wilcox that MI6 had carried out its own internal review. He said: “The fruits of that internal investigation were shared with the police at the time.” Dr Wilcox replied that she had not seen the results of the inquiries and asked for any report that had been produced to be submitted to the inquest.

25 April 2012 Mr Williams was once discovered tied to his bed posts wearing only boxer shorts. The maths prodigy was living alone in Cheltenham at the time and had to call for help in the middle of the night to be set free. His landlady and landlord, who lived below him heard his yells and were met with the “shocking” scene, Westminster Coroners’ Court heard. Searches of his home computers seized after his death revealed that he had been visited "websites of claustrophillia, and he also had access to bondage and sado masochism websites, the inquest has heard earlier in the day.

But a friend told the inquest Mr Williams was straight and not a transvestite. Elizabeth Guthrie, who had only known Mr Williams since 2009, said he may have had women’s clothing in his flat as “support strategy” for female friends. She said he would not have let anyone in to his flat unless he had a “very strong relationship” with them.

26 April 2012 MI6 officer SIS F tells the inquest that Mr Williams' interest in women's clothing and sadomasochism would not have prevented him becoming a spy. The inquest also heard that Mr Williams had conducted unauthorised searches on the MI6 database that could have put him at risk to “hostile and malign” parties.

Denise Stanworth, a toxicologist, told the inquest that traces of the date rape drug GHB were found in the body of Gareth Williams. They possibly occurred naturally. A panel of forensics experts which reviewed the post mortem findings was unable to rule out the use of certain poisons, such as cyanide and chloroform.

27 April 2012 Williams may have been able to get in the bag himself, the inquest hears. Despite experts failing to complete the bizarre task more than 100 times, a specialist said it could not rule out that someone with training could achieve it.

But a second expert, Peter Faulding, said he tried and failed to get into the bag 300 times. “My conclusion is he was placed in the bag unconscious or was dead when he was put in the bag. I cannot say it is impossible but I think even Houdini would struggle with this one.”

30 April 2012 A pathologist says Mr Williams probably died from poisoning, suffocation or strangulation. But Dr Richard Shepherd, a second pathologist, said he believed Mr Williams died inside the bag - probably from the build up of carbon dioxide.

Irish Times : MI6 man complained of 'friction in office', inquest told

MI6 man complained of 'friction in office', inquest told

April 24, 2012

LONDON – The sister of a British MI6 agent whose lifeless body was found padlocked inside a sports bag said he had complained of office tensions and of London’s “rat race” shortly before he met his macabre death.

The naked decomposing corpse of Gareth Williams (31) was found inside a red bag in a bath at his flat, near the headquarters of Britain’s external intelligence service MI6, in central London on August 25th, 2010.

Women’s dresses and shoes worth around £20,000 ($24,000) were also found at the flat, creating another mystery in an already complex case. They had never been worn.

“He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race,” his sister, Ceri Subbe, told an inquest trying to establish how Mr Williams died.

“He even spoke of friction in the office,” she added, clearly distraught. A lawyer for the dead man’s family said last month that “a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible for his murder, fuelling speculation that he was killed by foreign spies and that MI6 might have covered it up.

At the time of his death, Mr Williams was on a three-year secondment to MI6, which deals with foreign espionage matters and is headquartered at a large, modern, imposing building on the banks of the Thames.

But Ms Subbe said her brother had wanted to return to his old post as a code breaker at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service which is based in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.

He had wanted to escape London for the countryside and return to a quieter pace of life, she said. “His enthusiasm had begun to fade,” she said. “I think the job wasn’t quite what he had expected.”

She told the inquest that in April 2010 Mr Williams had sought to end his secondment to MI6. He had been due to return to Cheltenham just days after his body was found.

Bizarrely, there were no signs his flat had been broken into or indications of foul play, even though detectives do not believe he could have got into the bag by himself. Toxicology tests found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poison in his body.

A keen cyclist and hill-runner, who gained a university first-class degree in mathematics at the age of just 17, Mr Williams was single and intensely private.

Ms Subbe, who was in regular contact with her brother, told the coroner that despite his worries about work, he had been “very upbeat” and had not given any indication that he had been threatened or followed before his death.

She said he would not have let anyone into his flat who had not been vetted, nor give his keys to anyone apart from close family.

Nor, she said, would he have taken unnecessary risks, an apparent reference to suggestions that his death was an accident. “Gareth was the most scrupulous risk assessor I have known,” she said.

His body was not discovered until his family reported him missing, up to 12 days after he was last seen, raising questions about his employer’s apparent lack of concern.

Det Chief Supt Hamish Campbell, the officer in charge of the case, told the inquest that MI6 had been very co-operative.

He was unaware that the spy agency had carried out its own investigation, he added.

Police said their inquiry was continuing and that charges were possible. “It’s not a straightforward inquiry and it may at some stage result in criminal proceedings,” Vincent Williams, a lawyer for London police, said.

The inquest is due to hear from 37 witnesses, including four unnamed members of the intelligence services. Three will give evidence from behind screens to protect their identity from the inquest, which, in keeping with the nature of the mysterious case, is accessed from a small entrance guarded by security men, next to a sign saying the building is a health clinic. – (Reuters)

Mirror : The spy who hated his job at MI6: 'Body-in-the-bag' victim didn't like the London "rat race"

The spy who hated his job at MI6: 'Body-in-the-bag' victim didn't like the London "rat race"

Sister explains to inquest that job was not what Williams expected

By Tom Pettifor | April 23, 2012

The plot thickened today in the real-life spy mystery of the top MI6 codebreaker found dead in a holdall.

Amid accusations of dirty tricks in the shadowy world of espionage, the first day of the inquest was told victim Gareth Williams had complained of “friction” with other spooks and was about to quit the job.

His family believe secret service agents may have been involved in his baffling death.

He was so unhappy with his work he had cut short his secondment with MI6 and had been due to leave days after his body was found in the locked bag in his bath, his sister Ceri Subbe told the hearing.

Ms Subbe said he did not feel comfortable with the job, which was “not quite what he expected”.

She said: “He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office.”

The maths whizkid and ace codebreaker, 31, was on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service from communications surveillance agency GCHQ in Cheltenham, Glos.

Police believe he died in the early hours of August 16, 2010 - a week before an officer discovered the rotting corpse in the spy’s locked apartment in Pimlico, London.

A postmortem and further tests found no trace of drugs, alcohol or poison and the police probe also failed to establish a cause of death.

Two “bag experts“ are due to give evidence to the inquest on whether it would have been possible for him to have padlocked himself inside.

And to add to the mystery, police say a woman’s wig and lady’s clothes were found in the single man’s flat.

Ms Subbe, who was accompanied by her parents, engineer Ian Williams and his wife Ellen, told the hearing her brother was on a three-year secondment in London but “as time went by his enthusiasm began to fade”.

He had already packed his bags and had spent an increasing number of weekends at his parents’ house in Anglesey, North Wales.

But MI6 had “dragged their feet” in approving his request to leave.

Ceri said in her statement: “I think the job was not quite what he had expected. There was a lot more red tape than he was comfortable with.”

She admitted he had not told her that he had completed two courses in fashion design at St Martin’s College in London.

Asked about £20,000 of women’s clothes found in his flat, she said it was “not particularly” surprising, adding that they were “possibly as a gift”.

She said he would not have let anyone into his flat unvetted and he had never told her he was being followed or felt threatened, adding: “I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him.”

His family want to know why the alarm was not raised when Mr Williams initially failed to turn up to work by colleagues, who described him as being as reliable as a “Swiss clock”.

By the time a police officer was sent to at the flat and the body was discovered, it was so decomposed that evidence had been lost.

Ms Subbe said he was a private man who was “very selective” in choosing friends, naming three as Sian Jones, her mother and a work colleague whose identity coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox ordered not to be revealed.

In his last conversation with her on August 13, he said he was that night going to see a transvestite comedian with his friend Sian.

His body was discovered 10 days later after Ceri raised the alarm.

PC John Gallagher said he had been on patrol on August 23 when he was told to carry out a “welfare check” on Mr Williams, who had not been seen for many days.

The front door was double-locked and he was let in by a property agent.

In the living room, PC Gallagher found a mobile phone and two SIM cards on a table and a laptop on the floor.

And he told the inquest: “My attention was drawn to a lady’s wig hanging on one of the corners of a chair.”

There were some full yellow sports holdalls in the bedroom – and then in the en-suite bathroom he noticed a bulging red North Face holdall in the bath with the zips padlocked together.

PC Gallagher said he only noticed the “particular smell” of a body when he tried to lift the bag up.

“It is unusual because normally you would expect to smell it earlier,” he said.

“I looked at the bag to try to get a picture. I noticed that the side nearest the door had a round bulge.

“I noticed there was a padlock with the two zips joined together.

“At this point I am realising it is something serious and my concern was to not damage anything in a crime scene.”

He lifted the bag up slightly and could see red fluid seeping out.

“Then there was the smell,” he told the hearing. “Probably as a result of moving the bag.”

Mr Williams’s death immediately prompted top-level discussions between murder and counter terrorism officers and MI6 were kept off the scene, it was said.

But Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, from the Met’s homicide and serious crime command, stressed that MI6 co-operated fully.

Mr Williams’s family have claimed that “agents specialising in the dark arts of the secret service” had possibly cleaned the flat after his death to hide clues.

Det Chief Supt Campbell said: “I don’t think anyone was aware of Gareth and his death until he was found in the bath.”

Four intelligence agents will give evidence at the Westminster inquest from behind a screen to avoid the “real risk” of harm to national security.

Coroner Dr Wilcox today promised she would mount a “full, fair, and fearless inquiry into the evidence of this highly controversial death”.

The inquest continues.

This Is London : Secret agents will give evidence behind screen at inquest of spy-in-the-bag Gareth Williams

Secret agents will give evidence behind screen at inquest of spy-in-the-bag Gareth Williams

‘No evidence will be taken in closed hearing... all will be presented before this court’ - Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox

Paul Cheston | April 23, 2012

Four secret service witnesses will give evidence anonymously from behind a screen at the inquest into the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, the coroner said today.

Mr Williams, 31, was found padlocked inside a sports bag in the bath at his home in Pimlico in August 2010.

His parents have suggested that the “dark arts” of intelligence agencies could have been involved in the death and a possible cover up.

The inquest into his death, described by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox as “highly controversial”, opened today. She emphasised that all evidence to the inquest in Westminster will be heard in open court.

But she granted public interest immunity certificates to confer anonymity on three MI6 witnesses known as K, F and G, and on a “corporate witness” known as SIS F.

The first three will give evidence from behind a screen protecting their identity from the court, including from Mr Williams’s family. The corporate witness, however, will be visible to the family.

A further witness, Stephen Gale of GCHQ, will give evidence without a screen or anonymity.

Dr Wilcox said she was taking these steps because of the risk “to national security and therefore the public interest”.

Mr Williams’s parents Ian and Ellen and his sister, Ceri Subbe, were at the hearing today. The inquest, which is expected to last five days, is not being heard by a jury and the coroner alone will record a verdict.

Mr Williams, a maths prodigy worked as a cipher and codes expert for the government listening station GCHQ and had been on secondment with MI6. His naked and decomposing body was found inside a large holdall sealed by a padlock in the bath at his top-floor flat. A series of post-mortem tests failed to discover exactly how he died.

Dr Wilcox told the inquest: “Unlike other courts no one is on trial, least of all the deceased. This inquest, like all others, is an inquiry to answer four important but limited factual questions: who was the person who died, and how, when and where did the death come about? “The question ‘How’ will lead to an examination of a direct sequence of events that led to the cause of death.

“I intend to conduct this inquest as a full, fair and fearless inquiry into the evidence of this highly controversial death. No evidence will be taken in closed hearing and all evidence I deem relevant and all the material I have seen will be presented before this court.”

Family lawyer Anthony O’Toole told an earlier hearing at Westminster coroner’s court that “the impression of the family” was that “an unknown third party [in the flat at the time] was a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services, or evidence has been removed post-mortem by experts in those dark arts”.

The hearing continues.

---

Six key questions

Was there someone else in the room with Gareth Williams?

Police say it would have been impossible to get into the locked bag alone. Mr Williams’s body had no signs of defence injuries from a struggle.

Why did it take so long to raise the alarm?

Mr Williams was last seen on August 15, 2010 and police believe he died in the early hours of the following day. But he was not reported missing by anyone until his sister rang police seven days later.

Were the black arts of the spooks involved?

Mr Williams’s family suspect members of an intelligence service were involved in what they see as a possible murder and cover-up.

Was Mr Williams being followed?

His friend Elizabeth Guthrie is said to have told police he had told her he feared he was under surveillance. But he did not reveal by whom.

Was Mr Williams’s work behind his death?

He had just returned from holiday in the United States but neither MI6 nor GCHQ have wanted to make public what the codebreaker was involved in at the time of his death.

Did a sex game go wrong?

Mr Williams had visited a number of bondage websites. There was no trace of alcohol or recreational drugs in his body. But if he was interested in auto-eroticism why was it not picked up when he was vetted?

Toronto Star : U.K. spy found dead had complained of friction at work, family says

U.K. spy found dead had complained of friction at work, family says

Cassandra Vinograd | Associated Press | April 23, 2012

LONDON—A British codebreaker had complained of friction at the country’s overseas spy agency before his naked and decomposing body was found inside a padlocked sports bag, his family told an inquest Monday.

Gareth Williams worked for Britain’s secret eavesdropping service GCHQ and was attached to the country’s MI6 overseas spy agency when his body was found in the bag in the bathtub of his central London home Aug. 25, 2010. While detectives have suggested Williams, 31, may have died in a sex game gone wrong, his family has countered that British spy agencies may have been involved in the death.

An inquest being held into his death will investigate whether Williams could possibly have climbed inside the sports bag and locked it from the inside. There were no signs of struggle, and no drugs or poison in Williams’ body, the discovery of which launched a flurry of conspiracy theories.

Women’s dresses and shoes worth around 20,000 pounds ($32,000 Canadian) were also found at the flat, creating another mystery in an already complex case. They had never been worn.

The coroner leading the inquest agreed Monday to allow four intelligence agents to give evidence anonymously.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox acknowledged “there will be a real risk of harm” to national security and international relations if the identities of some of those giving evidence at the inquest are exposed.

Williams’ sister was the first to give evidence to the inquest, saying that her brother was unhappy with the “rat race” in London and had requested to be sent back to GCHQ’s headquarters in Gloucestershire, western England.

“The job was not quite what he expected,” Ceri Subbe said. “He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with.”

Subbe told the inquest Monday that she did not believe her brother would let a potential killer into his flat, saying he was extremely careful.

A lawyer for the dead man’s family said last month that “a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible for his murder, fuelling speculation that he was killed by foreign spies and that MI6 might have covered it up.

At the time of his death, Williams was on a three-year secondment to MI6, which deals with foreign espionage matters and is headquartered at a large, modern, imposing building on the banks of the River Thames which often features in James Bond films.

But Subbe said her brother had wanted to return to his old post as a code breaker at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service which is based in a striking doughnut-shaped modernist building in Cheltenham, western England.

He had wanted to escape London for the countryside and return to a quieter pace of life, she said.

“His enthusiasm had begun to fade,” she said. “I think the job wasn’t quite what he had expected.”

A keen cyclist and hill runner, who gained a university first-class degree in mathematics at the age of just 17, Williams was single and intensely private.

She told the inquest that, in April 2010, Williams had sought to end his secondment to MI6. He had been due to return to Cheltenham just days after his body was found.

His body was not discovered until his family reported him missing, up to 12 days after he was last seen, raising questions about his employer’s apparent lack of concern.

Policeman John Gallagher told the inquest how he made the grim discovery of Williams’ body when he went to the man’s apartment to check on the missing spy.

Toxicology tests found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poison in his body.

Experts later consulted by police said Williams could not have locked himself inside the bag.

Police have made no arrests in the case and are still not certain exactly how Williams died. But Scotland Yard raised the possibility that criminal charges could still be filed, telling the inquest Monday that it objected to the release of some material to the media because that could prejudice future criminal proceedings.

The inquest is due to hear from 37 witnesses, including four unnamed members of the intelligence services.

In Britain, inquests must be held when someone dies unexpectedly, violently or from unknown causes. However, the coroner’s task is to determine the cause of death, rather than to identify any suspect.

With files from Reuters

Daily Mail : Russian Embassy car spotted near 'body in bag' spy's home days before he was murdered

Russian Embassy car spotted near 'body in bag' spy's home days before he was murdered

By Robert Verkaik | August 13, 2011

Cars registered to the Russian Embassy were spotted near the home of a British spy just days before his body was discovered in a locked holdall at his London flat.

The unexplained presence of Russian diplomats in the area will add to suspicions that the MI6 officer was killed because of his work.

Gareth Williams is believed to have been working on spy technology tracking the movements of Russian money into Europe.

The 31-year-old was last seen alive on August 15 last year – the same day a Kremlin car was identified near the officer’s Pimlico flat.

In the days before Mr Williams’s death, two cars with Russian diplomatic number plates were seen parked or driving close to his flat in Pimlico, Central London.

The vehicles’ details were logged by a former KGB agent who fled to London 12 years ago after defecting to the West and who lives near Mr Williams’s former home.

The 51-year-old, trained in surveillance and counter-surveillance, believes that the sudden appearance of the cars raises immediate suspicions.

He said: ‘I still have to worry about my own security, so when I saw these cars I was very concerned and at the time made a detailed note of each of the sightings. I hadn’t seen any Russian Embassy cars in the area before this and I haven’t seen any since.’

The former agent, who has just realised how important his sightings are after reading about the case, observed the vehicles on his daily walk to local shops which took him past the flat.

On August 15 the agent logged a dark blue BMW 3 Series bearing the diplomatic number plate 251D198 seen being driven slowly along a road 50 yards from the flat. Mr Williams’s naked body was finally discovered eight days later locked inside a large holdall in the bath at his top-floor flat.

CCTV images show him entering Holland Park Underground station at 3pm on August 14, three days after he returned from a holiday in the US, and he was spotted shopping in the West End and Knightsbridge.

Earlier, around midday on August 12, the Russian car had been logged by the former agent, parked close to the junction with the road where Mr Williams lived, with the driver inside and the engine running.

The Russian Embassy, where the car is based, is four miles away at Kensington Gardens.

The following day, the agent noticed another Russian diplomatic car, a blue BMW 3 Series bearing the diplomatic number plate 251D306.

This time the car was spotted in the multi-storey car park directly behind Mr Williams’s flat.

The agent saw the driver clearly and described him as male and aged 35 to 45 with a brown moustache.

He added: ‘I saw him because he had to get out of the car to pay for a ticket. To my mind, these suspicious appearances show that the Russians were working in the area and were keeping someone under close surveillance.’

It has since been claimed that Mr Williams, who was on secondment to MI6 from the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ, was working on equipment that tracked the flow of money from Russia to Europe.

Further suspicions that Mr Williams’s death is linked to Russia were raised when it emerged that his former flat is owned by private company New Rodina.

In Russian, ‘rodina’ means ‘motherland’ and the name The Rodina Society was used as a cover operation for KGB activity in the West during the Cold War.

The inquest into Mr Williams’s death – which sparked several outlandish conspiracy theories – resumes next month.

Up to 40 spies questioned by police could give evidence anonymously. No one has been arrested in connection with Mr Williams’s death.

Post-mortem tests have failed to determine how he died and detectives say it would have been impossible for him to lock himself in the bag. No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poison has been found.

A spokeswoman for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency said: ‘We are unable to help with identifying any cars with diplomatic number plates.’

A Whitehall source said police were investigating the case.

The Russian Embassy declined to respond.

Daily Mail : Did Russian mafia kill the body-in-a-bag spy? MI6 man found dead in holdall in London, was developing secret technology to track gangsters' laundered cash

Did Russian mafia kill the body-in-a-bag spy? MI6 man found dead in holdall in London, was developing secret technology to track gangsters' laundered cash

By Abul Taher and Robert Verkaik | June 25, 2011

The MI6 agent found dead in a holdall at his London flat was working on secret technology to target Russian criminal gangs who launder stolen money through Britain.

The revelation adds weight to claims that Gareth Williams was killed because of his secret work and raises the possibility that the Russian mafia has targeted British spies.

Mr Williams was found locked inside a large North Face holdall in the bath at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, Central London, on August 23 last year.

It was initially suggested that the 31-year-old died accidentally at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he may have met on London’s gay scene.

But now security sources say Williams, who was on secondment to MI6 from the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ, was working on equipment that tracked the flow of money from Russia to Europe.

The technology enabled MI6 agents to follow the money trails from bank accounts in Russia to criminal European gangs via internet and wire transfers, said the source.

‘He was involved in a very sensitive project with the highest security clearance. He was not an agent doing surveillance, but was very much part of the team, working on the technology side, devising stuff like software,’ said the source.

He added: ‘A knock-on effect of this technology would be that a number of criminal groups in Russia would be disrupted.

‘Some of these powerful criminal networks have links with, and employ, former KGB agents who can track down people like Williams.’

Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Williams, a keen cyclist from Anglesey, North Wales, was involved in another ‘secretive’ project, developing devices that can steal data from mobile phones and laptops using wireless technology.

A close friend also revealed that Williams was training to take on a new identity when he died.

Tory MP and security expert Patrick Mercer said last night: ‘The revelation that Gareth Williams was involved in investigating money-laundering throughout Eastern Europe throws new light on to his death.

'I am sure the police would want to investigate these facts as thoroughly as they have done the details of his private life.’

Neither GCHQ nor the Metropolitan police would discuss the new information.

The suggestion that Mr Williams died when a sex game got out of hand was raised when investigators found he enjoyed going to drag cabaret shows, had £15,000 worth of unworn women’s designer clothing in a wardrobe at his Alderney Street home, and had visited bondage websites.

But his family reject claims that their fitness-fanatic son was gay and have been angered at the way the police allowed his private life to dominate their inquiry.

The inquest into Mr Williams’ death – which sparked several outlandish conspiracy theories – will resume in September, when as many as 40 spies who have been questioned by police could give evidence anonymously.

A battery of post-mortem tests have so far failed to determine how he died and detectives say it would have been impossible for him to lock himself inside the bag.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons has been found but police said anyone zipped inside the bag would have suffocated within 30 minutes.

Coroner Paul Knapman adjourned an inquest in February while Scotland Yard detectives await the results of a fresh round of forensic tests.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire admitted the likelihood of tracing a Mediterranean-looking couple seen at Mr Williams’s home weeks before his death is diminishing.

Since the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Russian mafia gangs have infiltrated all parts of the Russian state and its economy.

They now control vast business and property interests outside Russia which are used to launder their fortunes, often made from state corruption.

The growing threat to the West posed by East European criminal gangs was confirmed last week when a major Ukrainian hacking ring was disrupted.

The 16-strong gang had funnelled £45 million from Western banks into accounts in Cyprus and Latvia, using a computer virus called Conficker.

One British source said: ‘Much of the Russian government at various levels, national and regional, operates like a kleptocracy, with bureaucrats visibly on the take.

‘Obviously we are worried if this money is pouring into London, and then into buying property or other assets such as companies or investments.

‘The fact is that London remains the financial centre of choice for most Russians.’

London and the surrounding area has one of the largest Russian populations of any city outside the former USSR, with up to 400,000 Russians living in the South East.

The capital has been nicknamed Moscow-on-Thames and Londongrad because of its population of wealthy emigrees, including respected tycoons close to strongman premier Vladimir Putin, such as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, as well as some of the Kremlin’s most outspoken enemies, such as the billionaire Boris Berezovsky.

Daily Post Wales : 40 spies will give evidence at Gareth Williams inquest

40 spies will give evidence at Gareth Williams inquest

by Owen R Hughes, DPW West | February 16, 2011

UP to 40 spies could give evidence anonymously at the inquest into the mysterious death of MI6 agent Gareth Williams, a coroner was told yesterday.

Coroner Paul Knapman adjourned an inquiry into the 31-year-old’s death as Scotland Yard detectives wait for the results of a fresh round of forensic tests.

Counter-terrorism officers have interviewed “in the region of 40” of the expert codebreaker’s colleagues at MI6 and GCHQ, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard.

They have been passing on their findings to a team of investigators from the force’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command who are responsible for the inquiry.

The inquest heard that some or all of them could give evidence about Mr Williams, whose naked and decomposing body was found in a sports bag in the bath of his Pimlico flat last August.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire admitted the likelihood of tracing a Mediterranean couple seen at Mr Williams’s home weeks before his death is diminishing.

She said it is “very unusual” for two teams of officers to be working on a suspicious death inquiry, but said the victim’s secretive occupation was the reason.

Speaking about forensic tests, she added: “We have done a phased submission of tests to the laboratory.

“We are still waiting for some outstanding tests that went out before Christmas.”

After a 10-minute hearing, Dr Knapman adjourned the inquest until Thursday March 31, but said it is not known whether it will go ahead then.

Dr Knapman said he had read a report summarising the forensic tests written by a police expert but added “it is a matter of some regret'” that the inquest cannot go ahead.

He said the Mediterranean couple have not come forward, there are no new clues and it appears to be “less and less likely that something will happen”.

The coroner added: “The fact you must face is that in six months or so they have not come forward, this couple, have they?”

Mrs Sebire replied: “That is correct, sir.” The senior detective added that a “raft” of forensic tests have taken place and she is still waiting for the results of some submitted six months ago and more recently.

Mrs Sebire said her team is dealing with the dead man’s private life, forensic tests and other inquiries while counter-terrorism officers are responsible for liaising with spy agencies.

She said she has regular meetings with her counterpart, passes instructions to him on who should be interviewed and could arrange to see a potential witness if necessary.

Dr Knapman said Mr Williams’ family expect a “thorough inquest” and was told they have “no problem whatsoever” with his colleagues being granted anonymity.

The pre-inquest hearing was told they were invited to attend yesterday but did not come.

They have appointed a solicitor to represent them.

Mr Williams, of Anglesey, was found in a large North Face holdall, sealed by a padlock, at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street on August 23.

The mysterious discovery sparked a painstaking Scotland Yard investigation, worldwide media frenzy, and several outlandish conspiracy theories.

A battery of post-mortem tests have so far failed to determine how he died and police found it would have been impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons have been found but police said anyone zipped inside the bag would have quickly found the temperature unbearable and suffocated within 30 minutes.

Investigators believe the fitness and fashion enthusiast had gone to drag cabaret shows, had £15,000-worth of unworn women’s designer clothing in a wardrobe, and had visited bondage websites.

Police have released e-fit images of a young, casually-dressed Mediterranean couple who a neighbour buzzed through the communal doors of Mr Williams’s block in June or July.

Mr Williams was a mathematics prodigy who worked as a cipher and codes expert for GCHQ, the Government listening station, but had been on secondment to MI6.

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams: 40 spies could give evidence at inquest into death

MI6 spy Gareth Williams: 40 spies could give evidence at inquest into death

Up to 40 spies could give evidence anonymously at the inquest into the mysterious death of Gareth Williams, the MI6 agent found dead in the bath, a coroner has been told.

February 15, 2011

Paul Knapman adjourned an inquiry into the 31-year-old's death as Scotland Yard detectives wait for the results of a fresh round of forensic tests.

Counter-terrorism officers have interviewed ''in the region of 40'' of the expert codebreaker's colleagues at MI6 and GCHQ, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

They have been passing on their findings to a team of investigators from the force's Homicide and Serious Crime Command who are responsible for the inquiry.

The inquest heard that some or all of them could give evidence about Mr Williams, whose naked and decomposing body was found in a bag in the bath of his Pimlico flat last August.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire admitted the likelihood of tracing a Mediterranean couple seen at Mr Williams's home weeks before his death is diminishing.

She said it is ''very unusual'' for two teams of officers to be working on a suspicious death inquiry, but said the victim's secretive occupation was the reason.

Speaking about forensic tests, she added: ''We have done a phased submission of tests to the laboratory. We are still waiting for some outstanding tests that went out before Christmas.''

After a 10-minute hearing, Dr Knapman adjourned the inquest until Thursday March 31, but said it is not known whether it will go ahead then.

Dr Knapman said he had read a report summarising the forensic tests written by a police expert but added "it is a matter of some regret" that the inquest cannot go ahead.

He said the Mediterranean couple have not come forward, there are no new clues and it appears to be "less and less likely that something will happen".

The coroner added: "The fact you must face is that in six months or so they have not come forward, this couple, have they?"

Mrs Sebire replied: "That is correct, sir."

The senior detective added that a "raft" of forensic tests have taken place and she is still waiting for the results of some submitted six months ago and more recently.

Mrs Sebire said her team is dealing with the dead man's private life, forensic tests and other inquiries while counter-terrorism officers are responsible for liaising with spy agencies.

She said she has regular meetings with her counterpart, passes instructions to him on who should be interviewed and could arrange to see a potential witness if necessary.

Dr Knapman said Mr Williams' family expect a "thorough inquest" and was told they have "no problem whatsoever" with his colleagues being granted anonymity.

The pre-inquest hearing was told they were invited to attend today but did not come. They have appointed a solicitor to represent them.

Mr Williams, of Anglesey, North Wales, was found in a large North Face holdall, sealed by a padlock, at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street on August 23.

The mysterious discovery sparked a painstaking Scotland Yard investigation, worldwide media frenzy, and several outlandish conspiracy theories.

A battery of post-mortem tests have so far failed to determine how he died and police found it would have been impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons have been found but police said anyone zipped inside the bag would have quickly found the temperature unbearable and suffocated within 30 minutes.

Investigators believe the fitness and fashion enthusiast probably died accidentally at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he may have met on London's gay scene.

They found he enjoyed going to drag cabaret shows, had £15,000-worth of unworn women's designer clothing in a wardrobe, and had visited bondage websites.

Police have released e-fit images of a young, casually-dressed Mediterranean couple who a neighbour buzzed through the communal doors of Mr Williams's block in June or July.

Mr Williams was a mathematics prodigy who worked as a cipher and codes expert for GCHQ, the Government listening station, but had been on secondment to MI6.

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams: investigation making no progress, inquest hears

MI6 spy Gareth Williams: investigation making no progress, inquest hears

The investigation into the death of the MI6 agent Gareth Williams has made little progress and a breakthrough looks unlikely, a coroner said today.

By Martin Evans | February 15, 2011

Detectives hunting a Mediterranean couple in connection with the mysterious death admitted they had still not come forward and no fresh clues to their identity had been unearthed.

An inquest into the death of Mr Williams, whose naked body was found, padlocked inside a large holdall in his London flat last August, was postponed while further forensic tests are conducted.

But expressing his regret at having to adjourning the hearing, Westminster Coroner Dr Paul Knapman, said it was unlikely any key witnesses would now be found.

Addressing Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire who is leading the investigation for the Metropolitan Police murder squad, Dr Knapman said: “What is the position regarding potential witnesses, last time you wanted to know whether there had been anybody seen in the flat at that time, are there any further leads?”

DCI Sebire replied: “"Not at the present time in relation to witnesses, and we still are seeking to trace the Mediterranean couple."

Dr Knapman replied: "It is getting less and less likely that anything is going to happen there, the fact must be faced that for six months or so you haven't come up with that couple."

DCI Sebire replied: "That is correct sir."

Mr Williams, 31, of Anglesey, North Wales, was found locked inside a large North Face holdall in the bath at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street in Pimlico, central London on August 23.

The mysterious discovery sparked a painstaking Scotland Yard investigation, worldwide media frenzy, and several outlandish conspiracy theories.

A battery of post-mortem tests have so far failed to determine how he died and police found it would have been impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons have been found but police said anyone zipped inside the bag would have quickly found the temperature unbearable and suffocated within 30 minutes.

Investigators believe the fitness and fashion enthusiast probably died accidentally at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he may have met on London's gay scene.

They found he enjoyed going to drag cabaret shows, had £15,000-worth of unworn women's designer clothing in a wardrobe, and had visited bondage websites.

Today's short hearing also heard that up to 40 spies could be granted anonymity if they are required to give evidence at the full inquest.

Counter terrorism officers have already spoken to a number of colleagues of Mr Williams at MI6 and the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

DCI Sebire said her team was dealing with inquiries surrounding Mr Williams’ private life, while counter-terrorism officers were responsible for dealing with the intelligence agencies.

Explaining how the two teams would then liaise, she said: "It is unusual but it is a very unusual case given his occupation."

Dr Knapman said: "When the time comes I anticipate that those people who may have to attend this inquest who are part of the intelligence services may wish for anonymity."

DCI Sebire confirmed that the Met Police would not opposed anonymity at this stage in proceedings.

Coroner’s officer Barry May confirmed that the Mr Williams family had been informed of today's proceedings but did not wish to attend.

When asked if they opposed anonymity he said: "They have no problem with it whatsoever."

The family will be appointing lawyers for the full inquest, which was today adjourned until March 31, but may be delayed further.

Daily Mail : 'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

By Mail On Sunday Reporter | January 16, 2011

The mystery over the MI6 spy found locked in a sports bag has taken a new twist after his inquest was delayed.

The hearing into the death of Gareth Williams, 31, was due to take place at Westminster Coroner’s Court on February 15, but it has now been adjourned and no new date has been set.

The postponement to allow further investigations by police will raise fresh questions about the baffling case.

Detectives are following new leads about a couple who called at his flat before he died. They have received several possible names for the man and woman who visited the codebreaker’s MI6-owned flat in Pimlico, London, in June or July last year.

Mr Williams’s body was found at the apartment inside a padlocked North Face holdall on August 23. Two post-mortems failed to establish how he died, while toxicology tests found no evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons in his system.

At a Press conference last month, detectives issued e-fit pictures of the man and woman, both believed to be in their 20s and of Mediterranean appearance.

They were let into the block of four flats by a tenant on the ground floor. The couple told her they had keys to Mr Williams’s flat, number four, but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo.

Express : WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

Detectives believe Gareth Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

By James Murray | December 26, 2010

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams may have been murdered because he was becoming suspicious of a ­mystery couple befriending him.

Spy chiefs have been forced to ­consider the theory that the young, Mediterranean-looking couple seen at his home weeks before he died could have been foreign agents targeting him because of his superb encryption skills.

They are considering the possibility that Williams, whose naked body was found locked in a bag in his bath, was under surveillance because he was living at an address known to be used by security ­service staff in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London.

Experienced foreign agents would have quickly built up a ­profile of the 31-year-old keen club cyclist’s double life and then worked on a plan to get close to him by exploiting his weaknesses: drag cabaret, gay bars and expensive women’s clothing and wigs. They could have befriended him by striking up conversation in one of his regular haunts.

Their approach would have been ­tailored to appeal to his fantasies. Once they had gained his confidence, they would have tried to see what secrets they could get from him.

If the couple were foreign agents trying to unearth secrets, they would have kept the relationship going for as long as ­possible. Williams may have been murdered because he started to question his new friends and they, in turn, feared being unmasked as spies.

A security source said: “With more details emerging it is obvious to see why his bosses at MI6 and GCHQ are asking more and more questions about this couple.

“If they had an innocent relationship with him and perhaps shared some of his private interests then you think they would have come forward by now just to clear themselves.

“Experienced spies would not leave a trail, which could explain why the police are seemingly banging their heads against the wall.”

Police are trying to find out who ­Williams was socialising with and want to hear from ­anyone who was at the ­Bistrotheque in London’s East End on August 13, 10 days before he died. He bought two ­tickets for two other shows at the same venue, which suggests he may have struck up friendships there.

They also want to speak to anyone who saw him at the Barcode gay bar in Vauxhall, south London, in May, when there was an unconfirmed sighting of him. Inquiries are also ­continuing at the Central St Martins College in Clerkenwell, where he had enrolled on a fashion course.

Williams’s wardrobe contained £15,000 worth of women’s designer clothes, including shoes by Christian Louboutin and items by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane. Police want to know where he bought the clothes and why.

The mystery woman who went to his flat with a man one evening in June or July could have bought or worn some of the clothes.

Detectives believe Mr Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

On August 23 he was found naked in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall which was in an empty bath in the en‑suite bathroom. The keys to the bag were under his body inside the bag.

Detective Chief Superintendent ­Hamish Campbell said: “We are very sure someone else was in the flat so we need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that ­position by accident or design. It is unexplained and suspicious.”

There were no traces of drugs, ­alcohol or poisons in his body. An inquest will be held at Westminister Coroner’s Court in February.